Les Saintes Femmes au Tombeau (Three Holy Women at the Tomb)

It was Rodin who encouraged Minne to explore the themes of melancholia and introspection and he is today famous for his tormented depictions of the human condition. Described as a Symbolist, Secessionist and father of Art Nouveau, Minne conceived his sculpture of The Three Holy Women at the Tomb in 1896 and executed versions in wood, granite and bronze as well as plaster. A wood version of this subject is in the collection of the Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts, Brussels. Versions in plaster and in bronze are in the collections of the Kunsthalle, Hamburg, and the Dienstcentrum Ledeberg, Gand. Inspired by French funerary sculpture of the 15th century, Minne is thought to have drawn inspiration from the eight hooded mourning figures shown bearing the tomb of Philippe Pot, Grand Seneschal of Burgundy, from the chapel of John the Baptist in the abbey of Citeaux, and moved to the Louvre in Paris in 1889 (R.F. 795).